Eastern Splits Squads to Compete at the Mt Sac Relays and Beach Invitational

Apr 14, 2009

April 14, 2009

The Eastern Washington University track and field teams will split up its athletes this weekend as the Eagles participate in two meets in California.

Distance runners, decathletes and heptathletes will compete at the 51st Annual Mt. Sac Relays/Combined Events on April 16-18 in Walnut, Calif. The rest of the team will compete Saturday (April 18) at the Beach Invitational in Long Beach, Calif.

At the Oregon-Washington Scoring Clash on April 11 in Spokane, Coombs qualified for the NCAA West Regional Championships in the javelin with a throw of 144-6 to rank ninth in school history.

Nicole Luckenbach, who already qualified for the regional and Big Sky Conference championships, broke her own school record in the hammer with a throw of 184-1 to win that event. Her previous best of 182-10 was set at the Stanford Invitational when she originally broke Julie Nielson&rsquo;s record of 182-8 set in 2001.

On the men&rsquo;s side, Armon Blackwell won the 400-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 55.11. He already qualified for the conference championships earlier this season with a time of 55.45.

Also winning in Spokane was Kurt Williams, who qualified for the BSC Championships in the long jump with a mark of 23-1 3/4.

In addition, David Howard qualified for the conference championships in the discus with a winning throw of 160-5. He also finished second in the shot put with a personal-best mark of 52-10. Howard already qualified for the conference championships earlier this season with a throw of 51-8 1/4.

In Washington versus Oregon dual meet scoring, Washington swept in both the men&rsquo;s (360-343) and women&rsquo;s (374.5-302.5) competitions. Other Washington schools taking part were Community Colleges of Spokane, Whitworth and Central Washington. The Oregon schools competing were Portland State, Lane, Linfield and Eastern Oregon.

Eastern athletes have already met the qualifying standards 29 times for the Big Sky Conference Championships, which take place May 13-16 in Missoula, Mont. The list includes 15 for the men and 14 for the women, with five of the marks earned last week in Spokane.

-- Top performers-- Armon Blackwell (Tacoma, Wash. - Clover Park HS &rsquo;06)Armon Blackwellhad a personal-best time of 55.11 to win the 400-meter hurdles at the Oregon-Washington Scoring Clash on April 11. At the Al Manuel Invitational on April 4, Blackwell qualified for the BSC Championships in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.34 to finish second.

--Kurt Williams (Snohomish, Wash. - Snohomish HS &rsquo;06 &amp; CC of Spokane)At the Oregon-Washington Scoring Clash on April 11, Kurt Williams qualified for the BSC Championships in the long jump with a winning mark of 23-1 3/4. He also finished fourth in the 200 meters with a time of 22.37.

-- Nicole Luckenbach (Mill Creek, Wash. - Snohomish HS '05)Nicole Luckenbach broke her own school record in the hammer with a winning throw of 184-1 at the Oregon-Washington Scoring Clash on April 11. At the Stanford Invitational on March 28, Luckenbach qualified for the league championships and the NCAA West Regionals in the hammer with a throw of 182-10 to win that event. That mark also broke the school record of 182-8 set by Julie Nielson in 2001.

-- Shene Davis (Yakima, Wash. - Selah HS &rsquo;07) At the Oregon-Washington Scoring Clash on April 11, Shene Davis won both the 200 meters and the triple jump and qualified for BSC Championships in both events. She had a time of 25.19 and a jump of 38-2 1/4.

-- Aimee Carroll - (Silverdale, Wash. - Central Kitsap HS &rsquo;04)At the Al Manuel Invitational on April 4, Aimee Carroll qualified for the Big Sky Championships in the hammer with a personal-best throw of 159-3 to finish fourth. That mark ranks her 12th in school history.

-- Ben Cogdill(Estacada, Ore. - Estacada HS &rsquo;06 &amp; Portland State Univ.)At the Stanford Invitational on March 28, Ben Cogdill qualified for the conference championships in the pole vault with a mark of 16-0 3/4 to rank fourth in school history.

-- Krystal Deyo(Castle Rock, Wash. - Castle Rock HS &rsquo;06)At the Stanford Invitational on March 28, Krystal Deyo qualified for the conference championships in the 100 meters with a time of 12.20 in the prelims. She went on to finish eighth in the finals with a time of 12.25 and also finished ninth in the long jump with a mark of 18-1.

-- Cody Irby(Otis Orchards, Wash. - East Valley HS &lsquo;05)At the Al Manuel Invitational on April 4, Cody Irby finished fourth in the javelin (195-4) and fifth in the hammer (162-4). His best javelin throw came at the Stanford Invitational where he finished fourth with a mark of 199-6, which qualified him for the conference championships. His best hammer came at the Dusty Lane Invitational where he finished second with a throw of 162-10 to qualify for the BSC Championships.

-- Paul Limpf (Vancouver, Wash. - Evergreen HS '05)Paul Limpf had a time of 29:45.89 in the 10,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational on March 28 to break the previous school record of 29:48.6 set by Rick Adams in 1978. Limpf, who also qualified for the Big Sky Conference Championships with that time, had a previous personal-best time of 29:57.13 in 2008.

-- Ashley Stabl- (Farmington, Wash. - Tekoa-Oakesdale HS &rsquo;08)At the Al Manuel Invitational on April 4, Ashley Stabl qualified for the conference championships in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:03.77 to win that event and rank eighth in school history.